NOTE: Because of the Theme tie, we allowed everyone to pick either Theme. Using both was optional. To keep things simple, there will still only be one Theme category. Every category in Ludum Dare voting is an opinion, so you’re welcome to rate them as you see fit. But we encourage you to be fair in your scores to people that chose only one Theme, and not both.
ALSO: Itch.io has an experimental game downloader over here. You may find it useful.
WARNING, DIFFICULT TIMING GAME. Consider the post-compo version (I commented out one line) if you want to play through, but of course base your ratings on the original. I made the timing too difficult. :P
The GRO (Garden Research Overseer) initiative sounded so tempting. The pay was good, and you love gardens.
Unfortunately, they neglected to mention that you would not personally be visiting the garden.
Instead, it's off in space somewhere.
The orientation was light on details, but you did catch one thing --
the only way you can take care of the garden is by using a low-bandwidth remote link.
A very low-bandwidth link. So low that Morse code is the only option.
Before running for the door, your manager mumbled something about, "Supply space is pretty tight" and, "You may have to order more".
Your only hope is to raise all the garden plants to full growth. Only then, the contract said, can you go home.
F - Left button (or click with the mouse)
J - Right button (or click with the mouse)
The left button switches modes.
The right button enters Morse code. There is no penalty for having "dashes" that are too long.
In "Garden" mode (on the left), you can use supplies to feed plants.
Enter the matching letter to pick a supply, then enter the matching letter to pick a plant.
In "Order" mode (on the right), you can order more supplies.
Enter the matching letter combination to order supplies.
Morse code chart on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:International_Morse_Code.svg
Hold left button 5 seconds to restart in hard mode (all letters + numbers)
Hold left button 5 seconds to restart back in easy mode (A-H only).
Hold right button 5 seconds to restart in the current mode.
I ran out of time and did not put in music, sorry about that. I was able to finish most everything else though. I hope you enjoy playing it!
I had one huge lesson learned: Trying to do gapless MP3 looping is A HUGE PAIN. I probably wasted 4-5 hours on that alone. I finally had to do the most painful method, referenced here: http://blog.andre-michelle.com/2010/playback-mp3-loop-gapless/</a>
Downloads and Links
Ratings
 | Coolness | 60% |
| #17 | Innovation | 4.24 |
| #68 | Theme | 4.27 |
| #220 | Humor | 2.96 |
| #336 | Mood | 3.18 |
| #357 | Graphics | 3.33 |
| #377 | Overall | 3.36 |
| #481 | Audio | 2.63 |
| #617 | Fun | 2.97 |
Comments
I think this game was actually pretty good. It was quite difficult and I got stuck trying to order water. But I really liked the theme, concept was good and storyline cheeky!
Pretty unique concept here! Teaching morse code in a game is neat-- educational!
It is an interesting idea and the graphics is great. The game is a little different though I kept not being able to enter the dashes.
Very good! I feel like I even learnt a bit of Morse code! I like how the codes are randomized, but my first time I got CC for water restocking, that took me like, 3 minutes to do correct, but it was good practice! Very good use of theme too.
I just put up a post-compo version that comments out one line to make it eaiser: Now, the ordering combination waits forever so you don't have to time the space between letters. Sorry it was so difficult!
Because you insist on judging on the original version (a somewhat fair point) I deducted 2* from Fun. Timing in between letters was very difficult for me. Now with the wait it becomes playable and I actually have some flowers to maintain :).
Nice story and I think this could be required fun for those learning Morse. Possible stuff for easy/(normal?/)hard differences (or options): the waiting in between letters and not changing codes for the products.
. - phone home, will never forget!
Nice looking game... if only I could play it. I'm just not fast enough to get the required Morse code. Even the 'post-compo easy' version was difficult :(
Quite difficult, but a very interesting concept. All in all very innovative.
Great game! Really enjoy the retro graphics and sound. First time I was experiencing the Morse language so, a bit though. Difficult but I grew at least one!
Interesting concept, but really hard...couldnt complete one morse code
Woohoo another morse game. It exciting trying to keep on top of everything and remember the morse at the same time, I thought the timing in the default game was fine, but then two people have told me my game is unplayably hard :|
@tompudding I know the feeling. I checked and beat the hardest version of mine on the first try, but I know I made the game way too hard for people who aren't familiar with it. Sorry everyone!
Really great, unique idea, too bad the game is this hard. Fun nostalgic LCD graphics, though.
very interesting gameplay mechanic, it felt kind of cool having to switch tabs to the wiki chart before entering a command, almost like I was actually at the job, and I was having to look at the manual haha.
I liked the whole idea behind this, and with a little more polish I can see it being a fun little game, excellent work! :)
@SP0CkEr2 nice work! I only know one other person besides you who did. :P
First of all, yes it's super stressful. If this was my job, I would like to be paid pretty well, haha ;)
But this is a REALLY good concept, and it's executed really well. I would love to see a full game like this, because I feel like there's a lot of room for amazing gameplay with this concept. The important part would be to give the player breaks, so they're not rushing during the whole gameplay.
Great work!
It was tough to keep up, but I felt like I was getting the hang of it enough to start a few plants off.
I think my biggest problem is the rhythm and pauses--even with the post-compo version it's hard to learn that from the written codes.
I found your game to be a quick yet involved challenge. It required me to focus on multiple issues all at once, such as typing in morse code to order water for my insatiable plants. Overall, I really enjoyed the direction you took the theme in! It was a clever, challenging game, and I think the art matched well with the game itself (after all, you're using an old fashioned morse-based machine). Nice job!
The concept is really good and the detection of lines vs dots could be worse, but the game kept resetting my letter. The timing even on the post-compo version is incredibly precise, not just in terms of how long to hold a dash for, but just in getting all the symbols in before the game arbitrarily decided that my ..-. is actually a ..- and an E. I couldn't finish the game before I got too frustrated to keep going.
Given the low-bandwidth premise and the space aesthetic, I think sending 0's and 1's using the two buttons would've worked much better than trying to work with the morse timing.
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Cool little game! I like the story behind it,